1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to cabinets, and more particularly to a fold-out cabinet that allows for rapid and simple assembly while providing a reduced pre-assembled footprint for storage, shipping and merchandising.
2. Description of Prior Art and Related Information
Many conventional cabinets are manufactured in their fully or partially assembled state, where the footprint of the cabinet offered for sale is the same as the footprint of the installed cabinet. While this pre-assembled manufactured cabinet results in minimal effort prior to installation, the shipping, storage and merchandising of such cabinets requires substantial space.
As a solution to the above, several companies began to offer ready-to-assemble (RTA) cabinets. These cabinets are provided in a relatively flat box where the sides, back and bottom are joined together by the user prior to installation. This approach does help reduce the packaging size, but also requires a significant time input for the assembly of the cabinet. Moreover, these cabinets are usually completely disassembled, requiring attachment all components together, taking significant time and effort.
However, even with a ready-to-assemble cabinet, the back panel is often the largest component. Thus, the packaging required for shipping and storage of the cabinet must be as large as the back panel. Many times, shipping rates are based on the overall package dimensions. Therefore, when large back panels are involved, the overall package dimensions can be quite large.
As can be see, there is a need for a cabinet that can be easy to assemble while occupying a relatively small packaging, shipping and merchandising volume.